Friday Dolphins Mailbag: McDaniel, Tua, Second-Guessing, Secondary, and More

Rating Mike McDaniel's performance, waiting for Jaelan Phillips to break out, what happens with the secondary are among the topics on the minds of Miami Dolphins fans

Part 1 of the pre-Jets game SI Fan Nation All Dolphins mailbag:

From Chris H (@Chrishyer31):

After the first quarter of the season, how would you rate McDaniel's coaching ability? What are some areas of improvement, and what has he done well?

Hey Chris, judging by the Dolphins’ 3-1 record with what was a very difficult opening stretch, you can’t help but give McDaniel good marks. He deserves big points also for helping Tua Tagovailoa produce the best football of his career in those first four games. McDaniel’s play designs and play-calling have been very, very impressive. Areas of improvement? Haven’t seen anything glaring so far. There were a couple of things I would have done differently in the Cincinnati game, such as go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Bengals 34 late in the first half after Teddy Bridgewater’s first play and also challenging what looked like a bad spot on a Chase Edmonds run in the fourth quarter — or at the very least asking for a measurement. But that’s nitpicking. McDaniel has been impressive so far.

From Reza Hariri (@Therealrezpect1):

Why hasn’t Miami put Carter on IR? Any chance Conner gets more playing time? Is it time for Darth Kader to start?

Hey Reza, three legit questions. Concussions are very tricky, so the Dolphins obviously didn’t know after Carter was injured he would be sidelined for this amount of time, though the argument could be made that they should have created the roster space anyway since Carter is more of a supporting player. Tanner Conner will get more playing time at some point because the Dolphins really like him, but I would advise caution at this point because it might take a while. As for Kader Kohou starting, look, I love his story as much as the next guy and I do believe he’s got a bright future, but he’s still a rookie and I’m not sure I’d thrust him into a major role just yet.

From Jorge boyd (@raga1922):

Hi Alain, I am worried about the secondary against the Jets, who have good and fast WRs. Do you think we will be able to pressure and contain Wilson to help the secondary? How good is the Jets OL?

Hey Jorge, unfortunately, I can’t predict the future, but getting pressure on Zach Wilson absolutely will be key in this game, maybe even the biggest key. The Jets O-line has some talent on it, starting with former 49ers Pro Bowl guard Laken Tomlinson and 2021 Jets first-round pick Alijah Vera-Tucker, but they’ve had a lot of injuries at tackle, which have not helped. Veteran Duane Brown might be back against the Dolphins, and his presence would make the Jets offensive line clearly better.

From Brian Dougherty (@BrianBoru619):

When Jaelan Phillips gonna unleash? This line is good, but where are the sacks? Does it happen in this game?

Hey Brian, the timing of your question is interesting because I thought that Phillips had clearly his best game of the year against Cincinnati. I do think the sacks will come eventually for Phillips, but I never was 100 percent sure he would match his total of 8.5 sacks from his rookie season. I can tell you that OLB coach Ty McKenzie was raving about how well Phillips has done so far in terms of setting the edge in the run game.

From Craig M (@Dolfan2334):

Hi Alain, it’s going to seem like Monday Morning QB, but do you think the Dolphins should have rested players like Tua and X last Thursday & given them two weeks off to heal for the Jets? This groin injury might bother X all season. Rest might have helped.

Hey Craig, yes, this absolutely is playing the results. In Tua’s case, if Mike McDaniel was told that Tua did not have a concussion against the Bills and his back was well enough to allow him to play and perform well against the Bengals, then why would he have held him out? And if Tua did have a concussion against the Bills, then he obviously shouldn’t have played and that’s an entirely separate and serious discussion. As for X, there might be a better argument there because he clearly had a groin issue heading into the short week and he wasn’t going to be at 100 percent against the Bengals. So in this particular case, I’m tempted to agree with you.

From Brian Lipman (@lipman):

Which pass catcher will benefit most from Teddy’s approach and experience?

Hey Brian, that’s a very good question and I don’t know that we have enough data for me to give you a definitive answer there. It’s hard for me to imagine that much will change in terms of the favorite targets because the fact is that Tyreek Hill just gets open all the time and therefore will get the ball regardless of who is playing QB.

From Ricardo Hernandez (@Ricardo96451182):

Hello, Alain. The Dolphins went from years of mediocrity & irrelevance other than controversies, to two days atop the NFL Power Rankings, and then back to just being the face of everything that’s wrong with the NFL. So my question is: Why can’t the Dolphins/fans have nice things?

Hey Ricardo, props for the originality of the question. Older fans of teams like the Lions or the Browns or Cardinals might have a hard time sympathizing with you, though, considering how consistently good the Dolphins were in the 1970s and the first half of the ‘80s. From their perspective, I guess they’d say it sucks for you that you were born too late.

From David @dkar84):

With Howard and Jones injured, is there anyone in FA Miami should consider signing? The secondary seems to be a disappointment this season.

Hey David, the important point to make here is that there’s nobody you could sign now who could come in and make an immediate impact. Yes, the secondary hasn’t been as good this year as the past two years, but you just can’t underestimate the impact of Byron Jones being out. Once he gets back and Howard gets back to 100 percent, then we can more closely scrutinize the DBs.

From FinsUpMass (@paulbdotcom):

With our situation at CB and the Jets close to elite WR talent, are we going to have to score 28 to win?

Hey Paul, I believe you are right on the money there. The one thing that could help the Dolphins deal with the Jets passing game would be getting to Zach Wilson, but if they have to blitz to accomplish that, they better get to him in a hurry but that WR corps is very good — as you mentioned.

From mikethewreck (@mgcroteau):

What is the biggest vulnerability of the Dolphins from the Jets, and conversely what can the Fins exploit?

From the Dolphins side, their biggest vulnerability at this time clearly is the pass defense, and it’s been made more pronounced by the continued absence of Byron Jones and now the injury to X. As for the Jets, where they’ve really struggled this year is in third-down defense (31^st in the NFL).

Big Ern McDolphin (@dana_buice):

Hey my friend, We are moving to the 2nd phase of the schedule. Even with Tua out, we will be favored for the next 6 games. How would you define success and failure over this stretch?

Hey Dana, if we’re going by record only and looking at the stretch of at NYJ, MIN, PIT, at DET, at CHI and CLE, I would define success (particularly since I see the Dolphins as a playoff team) as a 4-2 record in those six games. We could go greedy and say at least 5-1, but things happen in the NFL all the time. And if you go 4-2, that puts the Dolphins at 7-3 with seven games left and in very good shape for the stretch run, particularly when the first game after the bye is at home against Houston.

From Michael (@Mikeman20s):

Which player so far this season has been the most successful at their position?

Hey Michael, considering that he’s leading the NFL in receiving yards and is tied for first in the AFC in receptions, it’s pretty hard to go against Tyreek Hill with this question. We certainly could give honorable mentions to Tua and Jaylen Waddle, but Hill has to get the nod in my view.

From Bill Whitten (@BillWhitten13):

Should the NFL/NFLPA revisit the squad size? Given the number of moderate injuries along with safety concerns, there’s not enough depth to allow players time to heal properly.

Hey Bill, if your question is “should,” then the answer is pretty easy and it would be yes, particularly when it comes to allowing teams to carry a third quarterback on game day. But “should” and “will” are two different issues here, and I’m not certain that it’s going to happen, though I would suggest it’s a lot closer to happening now than, say, two weeks ago.